The X11R5 man page for X11 says: "Most X programs attempt to use the same names for command line options and arguments. All applications written with the X Toolkit Intrinsics automatically accept the following options: ...". This module processes these command line options for perl/Tk applications using the SetArguments() function.

Specifies the class under which resources for the application should be found. This option is useful in shell aliases to distinguish between invocations of an application, without resorting to creating links to alter the executable file name.

Indicates that the user would prefer that the application's windows initially not be visible as if the windows had been immediately iconified by the user. Window managers may choose not to honor the application's request.

Specifies that the application should adhere as closely as possible to Motif look-and-feel standards. For example, active elements such as buttons and scrollbar sliders will not change color when the pointer passes over them.

Specifies the name under which resources for the application should be found. This option is useful in shell aliases to distinguish between invocations of an application, without resorting to creating links to alter the executable file name.

Indicates that requests to the X server should be sent synchronously, instead of asynchronously. Since Xlib normally buffers requests to the server, errors do do not necessarily get reported immediately after they occur. This option turns off the buffering so that the application can be debugged. It should never be used with a working program.

Specifies a resource pattern and value to override any defaults. It is also very useful for setting resources that do not have explicit command line arguments.

The ResourceString is of the form <pattern>:<value>, that is (the first) ':' is used to determine which part is pattern and which part is value. The (<pattern>, <value>) pair is entered into the options database with optionAdd (for each MainWindow configured), with interactive priority.

There are several mechanism for initializing the resource database to be used by an X11 application. Resources may be defined in a $HOME/.Xdefaults file, a system application defaults file (e.g. /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/<CLASS>), or a user application defaults file (e.g. $HOME/<CLASS>). The Tk::CmdLine functionality for setting initial resources concerns itself with the latter two.

Resource files contain data lines of the form <pattern>:<value>. They may also contain blank lines and comment lines (denoted by a ! character as the first non-blank character). Refer to option for a description of <pattern>:<value>.

Extract the X11 options contained in a specified array (@ARGV by default).

Tk::CmdLine::SetArguments([@argument])

The X11 options may be specified using a single dash - as per the X11 convention, or using two dashes -- as per the POSIX standard (e.g. -geometry100x100, -geometry100x100 or -geometry=100x100). The options may be interspersed with other options or arguments. A -- by itself terminates option processing.

By default, command line options are extracted from @ARGV the first time a MainWindow is created. The Tk::MainWindow constructor indirectly invokes SetArguments() to do this.

A single resource may be specified using a string of the form '<pattern>:<value>'. Multiple resources may be specified by passing an array reference whose elements are either strings of the above form, and/or anonymous arrays of the form [ <pattern>, <value> ]. The optional second argument specifies the priority, as defined in option, to be associated with the resources (default: userDefault).

Note that SetResources() first invokes SetArguments() if it has not already been invoked.

[ -symbol => $symbol ] specifies the name of an environment variable that, if set, defines a list of one or more directories and/or file patterns (joined using the OS-dependent path delimiter, e.g. colon on UNIX). $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH is a special case. If $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH is not set, $XAPPLRESDIR is checked instead. If $XAPPLRESDIR is not set, $HOME is checked instead.

An item is identified as a file pattern if it contains one or more /%[A-Za-z]/ patterns. Only patterns %L, %T and %N are currently recognized. All others are replaced with the null string. Pattern %L is translated into $LANG. Pattern %T is translated into app-defaults. Pattern %N is translated into the application class name.

Each file pattern, after substitutions are applied, is assumed to define a FileSpec to be examined.

When a directory is specified, FileSpecs <DIRECTORY>/<LANG>/<CLASS> and <DIRECTORY>/<CLASS> are defined, in that order.

[ -file => $fileSpec ] specifies a resource file to be loaded in. The file is silently skipped if if does not exist, or if it is not readable.

[ -priority => $priority ] specifies the priority, as defined in option, to be associated with the resources (default: userDefault).

[ -echo => $fileHandle ] may be used to specify that a line should be printed to the corresponding FileHandle (default: \*STDOUT) everytime a file is examined / loaded.

If no -symbol or -file options are specified, LoadResources() processes symbol $XFILESEARCHPATH with priority startupFile and $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH with priority userDefault. (Note that $XFILESEARCHPATH and $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH are supposed to contain only patterns. $XAPPLRESDIR and $HOME are supposed to be a single directory. LoadResources() does not check/care whether this is the case.)

For each set of FileSpecs, LoadResources() examines each FileSpec to determine if the file exists and is readable. The first file that meets this criteria is read in and SetResources() is invoked.

Note that LoadResources() first invokes SetArguments() if it has not already been invoked.

This module is an object-oriented module whose methods can be invoked as object methods, class methods or regular functions. This is accomplished via an internally-maintained object reference which is created as necessary, and which always points to the last object used. SetArguments(), SetResources() and LoadResources() return the object reference.

Allow one to process command line options in a specified array (@ARGV by default). Eliminate restrictions on the format and location of the options within the array (previously the X11 options could not be specified in POSIX format and had to be at the beginning of the array).

Added the SetResources() and LoadResources() functions to allow the definition of resources prior to MainWindow creation.

2000.08.31 Ben Pavon <ben.pavon@hsc.hac.com>

Added the GetArguments() method which returns the list of arguments that have been processed by SetArguments().

Modified LoadResources() to split the symbols using the OS-dependent path delimiter defined in the Config module.